[arch-general] motherboard change - strategies for saving current install?

[Iru Cai]

On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 10:08 AM, David C. Rankin <
drankinatty at suddenlinkmail.com> wrote:

> All,
>
>   I lost the disc controller in my arch server this past Sunday. I've
> ordered a replacement w/new processor, etc.. My question is what is the
> best strategy to save my current install? It's a simple:
>
> "can I boot the install media, assemble raid arrays, chroot old and
> update, or do I just dump the root partition and reinstall completely?"
>
> You can chroot to your old rootfs and reinstall the bootloader, regenerate
your initramfs(or use the fallback initramfs when booting) and boot your
system.


>   The hardware change will be from an AM2+ MSI board with Phenom 9850 to a
> Gigabyte AM3+ board with FX8350 if that matters. The primary goal is to
> preserve the raid arrays and server config for mail, web, etc...
>
>   I know I can chroot, save the needed configs, reformat root and
> reinstall, but what I don't know is if there is an easier way that would
> avoid the reformat/reinstall of root?
>
>   This will also be by first UEFI install, but I'm fairly certain the
> beginner's guide will get me through if a full reinstall is needed.
> However, does that have implications on being able to save the old
> partitions and my mdraid arrays? The current setup was a simple MBR,
> mdraid1 with grub2. I don't have a EFI system partition, but I believe I
> left space at the end of my arrays (I'll have to check if it is a full 512
> MiB). I don't know if I can salvage that setup by adding the EFI system
> partition at the end? Reading from the beginner's guide:
>
> If you can set your system to legacy boot, it'll be easier. UEFI need an
ESP, so if you use UEFI boot, you have to repartition your disk. UEFI does
not need GPT partition table, but GPT is better.

>   "The target drive requires a GPT partition table, and an EFI System
> Partition of at least 512 MiB in size, gdisk type EF00, and formatted with
> FAT32." That seems to indicate that any chance of salvaging my current
> install may be hopeless due to the current MBR partition table.
>
>   If there is a link that covers this in the wiki, I apologize, I haven't
> found it yet. Thanks for any advise or helpful tips you can give.
>
> --
> David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
>